Hundreds of bereaved family members and friends of passengers who died in the Malaysia Airlines MH17 disaster have gathered in the Dutch capital Amsterdam to commemorate the dead.

Nearly 200 of the plane’s 298 victims came from the Netherlands.

Ukraine and Western countries accuse pro-Russian rebels of shooting the plane down with a Russian-made missile, an accusation which Russia denies.

The exact cause of the crash in eastern Ukraine has not been established.

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that allegations that the rebels were hampering efforts to find out what happened to the plane were “totally unfounded”.

He said that Russia supported a full and impartial investigation into the crash.